Dear Readers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 27, 2003

Byline: Paul M. Rodriguez, INSIGHT

Dear Readers,

True, it hasn't yet risen to the level of Falagate. But watching Democrats prance and primp with their complaints about George W. Bush's visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln leaves no doubt in our minds that even care of the president's dogs, Barney and Spot, soon will be made part of the bogus charges being leveled against him by pious phoneys on Capitol Hill.

Fala, of course, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Scottie dog. FDR was charged with letting Fala be left behind in the Aleutians and then sending back a destroyer (there were fewer then than there are today) to collect him at taxpayer expense. Today, such "worm-eaten chestnuts" still are offered up by partisans in the hope that suckers will buy them.

"Well, I think we all recognize the old technique," Roosevelt said. "The people of this country know the past too well to be deceived into forgetting. Too much is at stake to forget. There are tasks ahead of us which we must now complete with the same will and the same skill and intelligence and devotion that have already led us so far along the road to victory." All FDR-bashing aside, those sentiments are as valid today as they were half-a-century ago.

Democrats such as Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Rep. Henry Waxman of California seem to have forgotten that history has a way not only of repeating itself but reminding folks of ... well, wormy chestnuts. Consider "Air Congress," a phrase coined for a story this editor wrote 12 years ago about congressional delegations flying to Paris for the annual international air show.

Besides using military jets and personnel at huge cost to the taxpayers, members of Congress and their staffs also received stipends, luxury accommodations at the best hotels, 24-hour personal aides, bodyguards and escorts for shopping sprees.

If anyone noticed, in news reports about the Lincoln's berthing at Everett, Wash., there were the governor, the senators and a handful of representatives. Do you think these elected officials went to greet the returning sailors and Marines at their own expense? Curiously, we haven't heard Messrs. Byrd and Waxman talk about the use of Navy personnel, aircraft and equipment diverted at huge cost from normal duties to transport these officials. Just an oversight? Hmm ... how much does it cost to use a Navy helicopter?

John F. Kennedy used to travel to Navy exercises while president and made certain he was well-photographed. So did Bill Clinton, though we didn't hear Democrats complaining about those "photo opportunities." Yet when Bush, a successful commander in chief, flies on an aircraft that normally would be in service anyway, and helps to lift the morale of service members and a nation in need of a boost, the Democrats complain. It's bad enough we have to have politicians, but voters don't have to put up with hypocritical politicians. As FDR put it, "I doubt whether even Goebbels would have tried that one."

There's much else your team has unearthed inside, so take your time, read the hard facts and get back to us with your thoughts.

From the capital, I'm your newsman in Washington. God bless